Control: At-Risk Teen Supers
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B365P667
I, Dalton Lewis, just finished writing a teen supers novel.
What would the year 2055 be like? We wondered. We wondered what a positive view of the future would show us. I know — it’s great to be dark, to show the worst possible reality, to have grimdark adventures and show the world the dark brutality of the worst possible situation. I wanted to show a possible future in which society is doing a little better than it is now. I wanted to show a future in which people start to overcome homelessness and poverty and try to overcome some of the systemic racism affecting current society. I tried to show the problems with society while showing the way in which life isn’t as terrible as people sometimes think that it is.
Teenagers dream big. I wanted a chance for teenagers to do some fantastic stuff that is still a little grounded. I didn’t want vampires or magic or anything like that — just technological powers and technical advancements, no mysticism. I didn’t want them to just run around murdering people all of the time as their heroic deeds, either. I did some research — a little, honestly — into California wildfires and then wrote the first half of the book about a group of teen heroes fighting some wildfires.
The second half of the novel focused on the characters and their problems that developed from their personalities.
Problems — teenagers don’t do well without problems. Taylor has a problem. She’s using drugs and drinking way too much because of self-esteem issues. She’s the team’s best fighter, too — an unstoppable force in physical combat. She tries to control everything and balance getting high with the needs of beating bad guys and saving lives from fires but has to hit rock-bottom in order to have any chance at redemption…
Ji-Hoon wants to be a superhero but doesn’t have any friends. I know, I know — I write a lot about characters without many friends. It’s a thing I do. He doesn’t want friends. He doesn’t want connections because he can’t get hurt that way. He wants to investigate a drug-related death in his hometown, and the case leads to a terrible discovery…
Persephone is a genius, a teen genius with a full ride to NYU in the fall. She could ride out senior year and make a decent, well-paid life thinking things up for any number of tech companies. She ignores all that and sends data recommending solutions for wildfire damage for Spartalite Industries in California. Crayworth, a kindly fifty-year-old man, notices and hires the teen supers to try to save people…
Ezekiel is the rogue with a secret. He is well-spoken and confident and expresses to everyone that life is bright, interesting, and full of chances. He seems to have everything. So what is wrong? What is eating him up from the inside? What is the terrible reality of life inside his mind that is making his hero life so terrible? They will find out eventually…
This all leads to a confrontation with a nefarious force, as these stories inevitably do. I wanted to make the villain someone who represents a real-life bad guy instead of someone who wants to destroy reality or take over the world. I didn’t want a laser in the sky or anything like that — just something more small scale and personal, reflecting who the characters are. I wanted a confrontation between the characters, not a huge battle between armies.
That’s my novel. I worked really hard on it and think that you should give it a shot.
Thanks, and take care, friends.
PS It’s been almost a full day and a typo from the website still hasn’t been fixed. I’m pissed at amazon. They’re working on it.
